“Turning up the volume on poverty” was the theme of a recent public presentation in Glasgow of the Poverty Truth Commission, which I attended, along with some 400 others. 

Founded in 2009 and drawing inspiration from other truth commissions around the world, the group brought together some of its economically poorest citizens with some of Scotland’s best-known leaders. 

It is based on the conviction that we cannot understand poverty, let alone address it, until those who live with its reality every day are at the heart of the process for change. 

As one participant called Patrick — we used first names only — put it: “The commission is unique in building bridges and promoting the idea that people are experts on their own lives. It’s about vulnerability being given a platform.”

I would strongly encourage readers to Google the Poverty Truth Commission, where they will find good accounts of its history and ongoing work and the realistic hope that it can generate. 

As Anne-Marie put it: “The combination of members, and the influence that some have, allows the voices of those living in poverty to be heard in places which were never accessible before.”

Those voices were heard loudly and clearly at the June public meeting. 

There was black humour, anger and tears from the participants. 

Some things I already knew in my head, but to hear the narratives based on personal accounts was very challenging. 

So, for example, the choice that some people have to make between heating or eating as a result of rises in fuel and food costs, is literally true. 

Thus people who use pre-payment meters are put on a higher rate than direct debit customers and have to pay for the upkeep of their meters. 

One participant said: “I have to switch off my electric in winter as I cannot afford to put money in the meter. Three days before my giro payment it comes down to ‘heat or eat’ as I often cannot afford to do both.” 

There is a challenge here to energy companies to review their policies to pre-payment customers.

It was deeply troubling to hear about the effects of sanctions being imposed on benefits claimants, which can break people’s spirits. 

Benefits may be suspended if, for example, you are a few minutes late for an appointment or applied for one less job than you should have done. But they can also be the result of bureaucratic errors at the jobcentre. 

The sanctions policy is being disproportionately and unfairly applied. 

It was wryly remarked that “you used to come out of the jobcentre happy if you had found a job. Now you come out pleased if you haven’t got a sanction.” 

This represents a serious challenge to the way the Department of Work and Pensions carries out the government’s draconian policies. 

It is drummed into benefit claimants that the way to get out of the poverty trap is to get a job. 

This is, at best, a half truth. From the commission we learned that in Scotland there are now more people living in poverty where at least one person in the household is working than in homes where no-one is in paid employment. 

The expense of childcare arrangements, travel-to-work costs and the falling real value of the minimum wage are things to bear in mind here. 

But so too are the effects of zero-hours contracts which give maximum flexibility to the employer but minimum security and maximum uncertainty to the employee. 

The rise of foodbanks set against welfare cuts can be seen as a social indicator.

It is also a challenge to our collective sense of social justice. While the charitable impulses of those who organise foodbanks are impressive and highly commendable, the underlying fact is that they should not need to exist. 

Yet it is not only unemployed but also low-paid workers and pensioners who are reluctantly forced to use them.

We live in a world abounding in stereotypes, whether in relation to race, gender or class. 

But it is also the case with the poor and vulnerable in our society. Myths of “scroungers” and the “undeserving poor” are still perpetuated. 

Such myths have to be challenged and are being so by the Poverty Truth Commission. 

With its feisty motto: “Nothing about us without us is for us,” it will, I believe, form a growing challenge to our politicians and policy-makers. 

Whatever the result of the forthcoming referendum in Scotland, the commission will continue to give voice to the need for policies of redistributive justice and a progressive move towards a more equal society. 

In that way not only Glasgow but Scotland will flourish.